The Verdict is in: Shogun to Reunite with Cordeiro at Kings MMA

The 2005 Pride Fighting Championships middleweight grand prix
winner and former UFC light heavyweight champion will reunite with
longtime former mentor Rafael
Cordeiro at
Kings MMA in Huntington Beach, Calif. Cordeiro made public his
invitation for Shogun to rejoin him, as he prepares for his
upcoming rematch with Forrest
Griffin at UFC 134 “Rio”
on Aug. 27 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Griffin spoiled Rua’s Octagon debut in 2007, submitting him with a
rear-naked choke at UFC 76.

“I will make my training camp at Kings MMA because I have so much
respect for Rafael Cordeiro,” Rua told Sherdog.com. “He invited me,
and I agreed with him that it would be a good way to develop my
game.”

Rua has not competed since UFC 128 in March, when he surrendered
the light heavyweight championship to Jon Jones in a
third-round technical knockout defeat at the Prudential Center in
Newark, N.J. Long considered one of the sport’s top fighters at 205
pounds, Rua’s career has been interrupted by three reconstructive
knee surgeries. Still only 29, He holds a 3-3 mark inside the UFC.
He enjoyed some of his greatest success under Cordeiro at the famed
Chute Boxe Academy.

“He’s one of the best coaches ever in the history of MMA,” Rua
said. “I’m going for him and for the other athletes there who are
all great fighters, like Wanderlei
Silva and Fabricio
Werdum. I don’t know if Anderson
Silva will be there, but the others are great.”